As the MLB season begins, so does this series on priorities entitled “Winning Runs.”

Steve Garvey is a hall of fame baseball player. And, it seemed in many people’s eyes he was a hall of fame person. “He believed in doing the Right Thing. His parents smoked, but he never did. His teammates swore, but he never did.”

Rick Reilly explained in an article entitled, America’s Sweetheart that “For most of his nearly 41 years Garvey lived at the corner of Straight and Narrow.”

Then everything changed. Garvey explained, “Some people have a mid-life crisis,” he says. “I had a midlife disaster.”

Reilly tried to explain the disaster, “maybe sometimes he has confused responsibility to family with responsibility to fans. Recently he sat outside a Los Angeles courtroom where his visitation rights suit was being heard, happily signing autographs. Cyndy says he once sent his daughter Whitney a birthday card that read, “Happy Birthday, Best Wishes from Steve Garvey.”

Sadly, Garvey became “everything he never wanted to be: a divorced husband, an unloved father, an unadmired teammate, a sinning Christian, a lying man of honor, a failed businessman, a control freak out of control.”

Gotta Sort Priorities

I’ve struggled all my professional life balancing home life and work life. It’s so easy to see the neediness of those I serve, and far too easy to assume that my family will thrive while I help others survive.

By the grace of God, and the patient love of my wife and children I didn’t lose them.

Guarding Against Disaster

Many people lose track of what’s important in life.

““There are thousands and thousands of people out there leading lives of quiet, screaming desperation, where they work long, hard hours at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.”” — Nigel Marsh

Nigel Marsh’s TED talk proposes a balance between family time, personal time and productivity while providing us with encouragement to make it happen. Advice I need.

Here’s more, “For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her … In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself…(And), do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them.” 1

Gotta Love Sacrificially & Sincerely

In the custody trial lawyers questioned Garvey’s daughter, Krisha: Q: Do you want to see your father? A: I don’t want to see him. Q: Are you willing to? A: No…. Q: Do you love your father? A: No. Q: Did you ever love your father? A: When I was little.

And, I hear the echoing warnings, “do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them.”

I don’t want to be another mid-life crisis become a “midlife disaster.”